Musicals:
4-Movie Collection (Kiss
Me Kate 3D/The
Band Wagon/Calamity
Jane (all 1953)/Singin'
In The Rain
(1952)/MGM/Warner Blu-ray Set)/Funny
Lady
(1974/Sony/Columbia/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Yentl
(1983/United Artists/Ladbroke/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition
Blu-ray)
3D
Picture: A- Picture: B (Rain:
B+) Sound: B-/B/C+/B-/B/B Extras: B-/C+/B Films:
B/B/B-/B+/B/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Funny
Lady
and Yentl
Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Twilight Time,
are limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies
last from the link below.
Here
are some key musicals now on Blu-ray for you to see, especially if
you are a big fan of them...
Musicals
is a new 4-movie set Warner is issuing of popular MGM films in the
genre from the early 1950s. This includes George Sidney's Kiss
Me Kate 3D
in a great 3D presentation for those who can see it in the Blu-ray 3D
format. Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Keenan Wynn, Bobby Van, James
Whitmore and a triumphant Ann Miller star in this classic version of
Shakespeare's Taming
Of The Shrew
that has been influential in its own right. Intentionally a bit
campy, it holds up well enough and all restored, you can really
appreciate how out of their way MGM went on this one.
Vincente
Minnelli's The Band Wagon is a grand, hilarious backstage
musical that is also a giant, knowing farewell to Hollywood's
classical period of musicals (that MGM helped make possible) on a
loving long goodbye to them. Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar
Levant and Nanette Fabray lead a great cast that has as much to say,
do and show about musicals as Singin'
In The Rain (also in this
set) does and fans should see both.
David
Butler's Calamity
Jane
was made for and by Warner Bros. with Doris Day cast in the title
role of this musical satire of Westerns, joined by Howard Keel and
featuring some good musical moments with good spots of comedy. I
don't think it is the most successful of the films in the set, but
fits in the time period and production approach. However, Warner
could pull off a musical as well as any studio, including rival MGM
(they brought sound to film, so there!) and this is at least
professionally done and not bad, if not always great. It is
definitely worth a look.
Finally
we have Stanley Donen's Singin'
In The Rain
(1952), which I wrote about before in an older DVD release as
follows...
Stanley
Donen teamed up with Gene Kelly for Singin'
In The Rain
(1952) which is a tale of Hollywood going from the silent to sound
era, is a comedy and includes many past classic MGM hit songs
including the ever-present tune that became the title of this film.
Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor also have some prime moments
co-starring, but everyone is good here and for many, this has become
the greatest musical ever because it grasped the essence of what made
the genre come alive to begin with. I may not think it is the
greatest, but it is up there and has aged very well.
Each
film comes with animated cartoon shorts (usually from MGM) and
sometimes with live action shorts of the time, then Kate
adds two older featurettes on Cole Porter and the featurette is on
Porter and New York, Wagon
adds a Making Of piece called Get
Aboard! The Band Wagon,
vintage featurette The Men Who Made The Movies: Vincente Minnelli, an
Original Theatrical Trailer and solid feature length audio commentary
on the film with Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein,
Jane
adds newsreels and Rain
adds an Original Theatrical Trailer, vintage newsreels tied to the
film, Singin'
In The Rain: Raining On A New Generation
featurette and feature length audio commentary on the film with many
of participants in the film including Behlmer and more.
Herbert
Ross' Funny
Lady
(1974) is the underrated sequel to the huge Barbra Streisand hit
Funny
Girl,
which was restored a few years ago, then further upgraded and issued
on Blu-ray, as reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12141/Funny+Girl+(1968/Sony+Blu-ray)/Kid+Millions+(1
Not
always as respected as the first film, I think it tends to be
underrated, showing the aftermath of Fanny Brice's life and success,
but the film also reflects changes that happened in filmmaking in
only a few years as films became darker, more mature and
self-reflective. Her lover Nicky (Omar Sharif makes a nice
appearance here) is gone, but especially the happiness and joy they
shared is finished. She has taken up with Billy Rose (James Caan),
whose a big entertainment producer and even a child prodigy, so this
film becomes a look at him and the entertainment industry, as well as
continuing the Brice biography in a smart, mature way it does not get
enough credit for doing. No, the magic of the first film is not
here, but the makers (including Streisand, who reluctantly signed on
to repeat her Academy Award-winning performance) understood this and
made a backstage musical with a difference and it deserves to be
rediscovered in that spirit.
Streisand
become the first woman to direct, co-produce, co-writer and star in a
film with Yentl
(1983), which took her decades to get made. It was more than worth
the wait. She plays a woman who has to pretend to be a man so she
can study the Talmud and become wise in Judaism (encouraged secretly
by her father, played so well here by Nehemiah Persoff) going to
school dressed as a man to achieve this. She falls for her roommate
(Mandy Patinkin) even as he is about to get married to a beautiful
young woman (Amy Irving).
The
film deals with some serious subjects, including political and
religious ones, but always has a sense of irony, healthy sense of
humor and some great moments it never gets credit for. The songs by
Alan & Marilyn Bergman are very well written and Streisand goes
all out (including with little intertextual references to her
previous musicals throughout) to tel the story. If anything, the
film has become better with age, is a very special work, is amazing
it got made and remains a top achievement of all involved. It is one
of the great musicals of at least the last 40 years and is highly
recommended!
Extras
for both limited edition releases include illustrated booklets on
each respective film with tech info and more insightful essays by
Julie Kirgo, Original Theatrical Trailers and vintage featurettes (3
on Lady),
with Yentl
adding a Streisand intro, her original video demos to develop the
film, Super 8mm film demo shot on location to sell the film to
financiers, two deleted songs that could have worked in the film,
Deleted Scenes, feature length audio commentary track by Streisand
and Co-Producer Rusty Lemorande, a Stills Gallery and rehearsal
footage.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 MVC-encoded 3-D - Full Resolution digital High
Definition image on Kate
looks really nice throughout and though the 2D version is just fine,
it is no match for how much fun this version is. This film and Arena
(also 1953) were MGM's two big 3D films of the time, made that much
more stable by being issued in dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor 35mm prints, but Kate
was the bigger hit by far. MGM had also entered into a deal with
Agfa to create a new color format in Ansco Color, which included
shooting both of those films on Ansco 35mm film, as well as big
productions like Brigadoon
(1953), Seven
Brides For Seven Brothers
(1954, both issued in real Technicolor 35mm prints) and Lust
For Life
(in MetroColor, all in CinemaScope; Forbidden
Planet
was even issued in some Ansco prints).
The
result gave them color that had a slightly different scheme versus if
they were shot on Kodak, DuPont or (then rarely used) Fuji, and
though it was only so for a few years, marks a special look no
musicals ever had before or since (MGM switched back to Kodak et al,
afterwards and renamed their Ansco lab MetroColor, which lasted for
decades as did the Ansco name on the movie market for consumers and
low budget films). That makes Kate
a special-looking film so well shot and you can see the synergy in
Ansco/Technicolor all the way to the legendary Too
Darn Hot
number.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers in the rest of
the MGM musicals look really good, but the one that looks great is
Rain,
particularly cared for and properly restored with impressive image
performance throughout that only a high quality 35mm Technicolor
print could offer (all three film were issued in the format and all
such prints are worth serious money now).
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Lady
was shot in real 35mm anamorphic Panavision and may not look as great
as Girl
did/does, but is still a strong, clean transfer that has its moments.
The 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Yentl
is as impressive throughout in its detail and even depth, but there
is something that is slightly strained in some scenes that is slight,
yet holds the transfer back a bit and only those like myself who have
seen it in 35mm will know. Otherwise, like the rest of these Blu-ray
releases, these have never looked better outside of a great film
print of them.
As
for sound, Kate,
Lady,
Yentl
(all originally 4-track stereo), Rain
and Wagon
have all been nicely upgraded in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix presentations that really show off the music and songs
nicely in ways fans will really enjoy, though Kate
and Rain
have some sonic limits. Jane
is the sonic disappointment here, not just because it is only here in
a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless presentation, but that
it sounds like the older sound used for the lossy Dolby Digital DVD
was simply pumped up and that results in unnecessary loudness and
distortion.
To
order Funny
Lady
and Yentl
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
-
Nicholas Sheffo
